their knees with their foreheads pressed to the ground. My aunt’s vanquished army.
“Your Majesty.” My ears perked at my father’s voice, and I glanced over to see him standing on the top step, his hand clenched in a fist over his chest and his head bowed. “The Palace of Night is yours.”
Chapter Twenty-six
I winced from my place on my aunt’s throne a few hours later. The woodland medic that my father had insisted I see when he found out I’d been stabbed must have mistaken bandaging me up with mummifying me because I could barely breathe with the way he had me tied up.
“Allie?” Rhys looked up at me from the bottom of the dais, and I nodded, trying not to squirm.
“Right. Everyone,” he called out, his voice low and hoarse. “Her Royal Highness, Golden Rose of Nerissette and Empress of Bathune, Queen Alicia Wilhemina Munroe, first of her name, the great, glorious, and lawful queen of all present.”
Everyone, including my father and Winston, knelt and bowed their heads in front of me. I looked out at the room full of people, most of them still dirty and covered in gunk. Jesse was next to Kitsuna, looking over at the wryen every couple of seconds.
“We’re here tonight,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady, “to pass sentence on those who fought against me. To punish those who came over the White Mountains and invaded Nerissette, who killed the Order of the Dryads and massacred the tribes of the Firas, and who set fire to the Forest of Ananth and burned out the people of the Sorcastian Plain.
“We are here,” I shouted as I pushed myself up to stand, looking through the crowd, “to make you answer for the people you murdered in the name of your so-called queen.”
The nobles of Bathune began to shift, and my aunt’s generals glanced up at me, their eyes wide. “Generals of the army of Bathune,” I snapped. “Step forward.”
“Your Majesty,” one of them said as they scurried forward, their heads low and backs hunched toward the floor.
“Those of you who fought against me are forgiven,” I said, trying to keep my voice firm and queenly. “You will swear loyalty to me, and you will return to your homes. Tell everyone you meet that I was merciful and allowed you to live, but if you ever cross me or my throne again, that mercy will be no more.”
The men bowed their heads lower, dropping to their knees and pressing their foreheads to the ground.
“She’s really good at this queen stuff,” I heard Jesse whisper. The sound of Kitsuna shushing him was not lost on me, either. I looked over and smiled when I saw the way the wryen’s neck had turned red.
“Go home,” I repeated. “Live in peace for all the rest of your days.”
“What about the wizards?” one of the Woodsmen on the right side of the throne room called out. I looked over to see a small knot of men, still standing, their chins raised in defiance, surrounded by a guard. “We’ll never be safe as long as they remain free.”
“Kneel,” I commanded the wizards, my eyes locking with Rannock’s at the front of the group. “Beg for my mercy.”
“I refuse to get on my knees to a child. To a mortal queen,” he retorted, his jaw clenched.
“Fine. Up to you.”
“Mercy, Your Majesty, is for the weak,” Rannock went on. I gritted my teeth at his arrogance. “Those of us who walk in the light of magic fear not death.”
“Then it’s a good thing that death isn’t what I had in mind for you,” I said. “I bind you all under threat of death. You shall never be allowed to use or teach magic again for as long as you live. Let your secrets and your mysteries die with you. Magic is no more in the World of Dreams. If you defy me, I will send my army to your door, and you will be brought to my palace in chains. Where I
“But what are we supposed to do?” a young wizard asked, pushing to the front of the group. “How are we supposed to live without magic?”
“You’ll figure it out,” I said. “Now go. Live and be grateful for each day you have. For the kindness I have shown you.”
I heard the men grumbling. It didn’t take a genius to know that wizards would be unhappy about a ban on practicing magic, but I didn’t really care. They’d caused enough problems, and I wasn’t going to let them cause any more.
“What about the other creatures?” Gunter asked from his place near the throne. “The ogres. The giants. What do you mean to do with them?”
“We’re going to be a kingdom at peace,” I said, keeping my voice loud, “but we won’t be trampled on, either. If they leave us be, then we’ll do the same. But if they try to make war within my realm, then let today be a warning of what I will send to defend our country.”
“Forget about the ogres,” Winston said from beside me. “What about Bavasama and the Fate Maker? You’ve shown mercy to everyone else, what are you going to do to them?”
“I hate to say this,” I said, “but for once I have to agree with the wizards. There can be no mercy. Bring forth the traitor Bavasama so that she can answer for her crimes.”
The nobles stepped to the side, and I watched as two burly Woodsmen dragged my aunt forward, her ankles and her wrists shackled, the Fate Maker being brought along behind her by his own guards. When they reached the steps to my throne, the guards holding my aunt let go of her and she went down hard, her knees banging against the floor.
“Mercy.” She looked up at me with wild eyes. “I beg for mercy as your only remaining kin. The last daughter of the Golden Rose Bavamorn. The heir to the Rose Throne.”
“You tried to overthrow me,” I said. “You planned to murder me and take my throne. You stole my mother’s life from her.”
“Please,” Bavasama whimpered. “Mercy. Please.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I can’t. What you’ve done, the people you’ve hurt… For that there can be no mercy.”
“Yes.” Mercedes stepped forward and dropped to her knees in front of my throne, her body between me and my aunt. “There can.”
“Mer?” I looked at her, stunned, as she leaned forward and placed her forehead against the floor.
“I beg mercy for the Lady Bavasama, former Empress of Bathune and traitor to the Rose Throne.”
“What?” I gaped at her. “Mercedes? She ordered the death of Darinda. Of your sisters.
“And I want her to be punished for that…but not with death,” my best friend said. “She may have threatened your rule, but she also offended the very world of Nerissette itself. Her orders led to the deaths of forests, of the dryads of Nerissette. She ordered the execution of her own Nymphiad so they couldn’t rise up against her. She attacked the very land itself, and as the last dryad in the World of Dreams, I ask that you show her mercy.”
“I—”
“Give her to me,” Mercedes said. “Let me give her back to nature as an offering so that my sisters may find peace in the Summer Lands.”
“Your Majesty.” Aquella came forward, Boreas on her heels. They both dropped to the floor next to Mercedes and bowed as well. “We join the Last Dryad in asking for mercy. Let us return the Lady Bavasama to the land as an offering.”
“I don’t—” I looked around and saw my father staring at me.
“Mercy,” he mouthed to me.
“So be it,” I said with a sharp nod. “I bind the Lady Bavasama, the last tyrant of the World of Dreams, into the custody of the Nymphiad of Nerissette. And may whatever gods you believe in have mercy on your soul.”
“Bring us dirt,” Aquella said. I watched as my father’s Woodsmen stepped forward, their hands in the pouches at their waists. “And the Orb of the Dryads.”
“No…” Bavasama turned to me, her eyes huge and fearful. “No, please, kill me instead. Don’t give me to them. I’ll do whatever you ask.”
